The two-year-old dog became lethargic, thin and listless, deteriorating to the point that it was admitted to a pet hospital for a week for a blood transfusion.
“I was really worried about him,” Ms Powell, an enrolled nurse, said.
Testing confirmed Leo had ehrlichiosis, a disease transmitted through bites from brown dog ticks carrying the Ehrlichia canis bacteria.
But what worried the specialists is that Leo lives in the urban Top End, which some experts fear is becoming a new stronghold for a disease spreading like wildfire.
The first Australian case was detected in the Kimberley region of Western Australia in May last year.
By June, cases were rapidly emerging in Katherine in the Northern Territory and the surrounding remote communities.
The Northern Territory government has recorded 370 confirmed cases — 110 in the Darwin and Arnhem Land region, 149 in the Katherine region, 36 in Tennant Creek and in Alice Springs and surrounds, 75.
Experts say countless more have been left undetected in remote communities with little intervention.
“When we finally got to bring him home, [the vets] said he needs to stay inside, he’s at risk of spontaneous bleeding and he might not make it,” Ms Powell said.
“It was very full-on, very emotional.
“There were tears basically every night.”
Until the first cases were discovered just last year, stringent biosecurity controls had kept ehrlichiosis out of Australia.
Experts are still baffled by how the disease got in but, according to Professor Peter Irwin from the School of Veterinary Medicine at Murdoch University, the disease is now considered “endemic” across the NT.
“Ehrlichiosis is one of the most serious diseases of dogs in my opinion,” he said.
“It makes them very ill, and many dogs can die.
“Once it establishes into a tick population, it’s very difficult to eradicate.”
Common symptoms include lethargy, fever and cloudy eyes, which can be cleared up with antibiotics but, if left untreated, the disease can lead to blindness, uncontrollable bleeding and death.
“The problem with this disease is that dogs travel and spread infected ticks,” Professor Irwin said.
“Dogs that have moved from an endemic area of the community into the city will possibly bring ticks with them, and the ticks can then drop off.
“There have now been dogs with the disease identified in most other capitals, most as a result of travel from the north.”
Doctor Stephen Cutter, the head veterinarian at Darwin’s Ark Animal Hospital, is no stranger to the crippling disease.
He said up to 40 per cent of the dogs are infected in the remote communities of the Top End he visits on rotation.
But in August of last year, he saw his first case in a pet that had not left urban Darwin.
Arielle Giles, a vet at the Darwin Veterinary Hospital, confirmed the disease’s spread to Darwin, saying she had seen six cases in the past three months.
“It’s a devastatingly bad disease and it’s really difficult to treat,” Dr Cutter said.
“It’s basically everywhere and it’s now a matter of living with it.”
Both Professor Irwin and Dr Cutter said keeping ticks at bay is the best way to prevent ehrlichiosis.
“Because the infection is transmitted so quickly from the tick bites, the most important way of protecting your dog is to use a product, such as a collar that kills ticks before they bite,” Professor Irwin said.
It has now been five months since Leo was struck down by the tiny parasite and, while he is still getting regular check-ups and his future is looking brighter, vets can’t give the all-clear.
“Ehrlichiosis is really nasty in that it can stay hidden in the bone marrow for a long period of time,” Dr Cutter said.
Earlier this year, the NT government brought on a new coordinator to transition the NT’s response to the disease from a biosecurity threat to managing the outbreak.
“This disease is a nationally notifiable disease, which means that suspected cases of E.canis need to be reported, and free testing can be carried out on blood samples from suspected dogs,” said the chief vet at the Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade, Dr Sue Fitzpatrick.
A sad dog in the shelter can scarcely raise her head and begs softly for a reassuring pat on the back.
John Hwang, an animal enthusiast and photographer, encountered a dog at a shelter that utterly stole his heart.
A sad dog at a shelter can barely lift her head to ask for a hug.
John Hwang, an animal enthusiast and photographer, met a nice dog at the Baldwin Park animal shelter in Los Angeles. The guy often visits such facilities to spend time with animals in need of affection, and it was there that he saw the 10-year-old dog, who was quite depressed and curled up in a corner, not moving at all.
The Dodo was informed by John. “My first reaction was that this dog was bashful or sad and didn’t want to engage with me.” “I was astonished when she came me when she saw me.”
Indeed, as soon as she spotted John, she went on all fours, and he observed that she was shivering slightly.
A shelter dog lifts her head to be petted.
“She appeared clumsy, yet the way she moved was adorable,” John adds. She was filthy, but her heart was pure.”
The dog wanted to be loved. She began by sniffing John from a safe distance, but before long, her body was leaning against the fence, as if yearning to be a member of a family. Of course, John began caressing her, and they spent some time together relaxing and enjoying one other’s company.
“We certainly could have sat there all day,” John continued.
Although the dog seemed afraid at first, she rapidly showed John all the love she had to offer, teaching us not to judge a book by its cover or a dog by its appearance. He has the impression that he is in a refuge.
She came to find a loving home, and her dream was granted. It turns out that this dog’s tiny deed made others feel so much affection and share her tale. Thousands of people have seen John Hwang’s images on social media.
“A lot of people were in love with this female dog and were trying all they could to attempt to get her out,” John says.
Leashes of Love Rescue, which specialized in rescuing dogs from high-death shelters, was among many devastated by the dog’s fate. Cathi Perez, a group volunteer, picked up the dog, called “Annabelle,” as soon as the shelter listed her for adoption. When Annabelle was brought to Cathi, she was standing, offering kisses and waving her tail.
“She was so delighted to get out of her kennel,” Kathy explains. Simply going for a stroll outside. The second time she came out, she was overjoyed. She wasn’t the same dog anymore.
She was brought to the vet for a checkup to cure an eye infection, which was one of a number of health concerns that needed to be treated. She will be picked up in a few days by a lady who has already provided her a permanent home.
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